


Ghost in the Machine

by RecklessDaydreamer



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 03:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7668403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RecklessDaydreamer/pseuds/RecklessDaydreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"And when Captain Lovelace tries to break into the SI-5's private archive, she receives help from an unexpected source." --from the description of Episode 33: Don't Poke the Bear</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost in the Machine

**Author's Note:**

> All details of AI mechanics have been heavily handwaved. :)

“Okay, Hera, you can try again.”

Hera sighs. “Captain, I’ve told you this. I can’t crack Kepler’s server. I can hardly touch the Urania's onboard computer. You can’t hack me a way in.”

“I _can_ ,” Lovelace says. “Now try again.”

That’s an order. Hera stretches her senses toward the secure server. If that computer was a wall, it’d be fifty feet tall and made of titanium. If it was a person, it’d be Kepler.

Hera does the computer equivalent of kicking the wall. The server, true to form, reacts violently. _ACCESS PROHIBITED. ERROR. ACCESS PROHIBITED._ The alert stops her in her tracks. She lets the lights in the main cargo bay flicker out and says, “ _Ow_.” That one was worse. Lovelace doesn’t seem to understand how strong this firewall is.

The captain, grumbling to herself, goes back to the keyboard. Hera lets her mind wander. Jacobi and Maxwell are getting coffee in the mess. Hilbert is conducting Eiffel’s examination. Kepler is nearing the door to the lab, and she devotes a little more power to watching the inevitable altercation when the Colonel enters.

“Hera? Try again.”

As Hera grudgingly tries to interface with the secure server, she says, “I really don’t think this is a good idea. What if the SI-5 come ba—”

A whisper, hesitant, barely there: _[Hello?]_

Hera peers at the server. She could’ve sworn—

_[Is someone there?]_

It can’t be.

_[Maybe not,]_ the voice says sadly—not says, more like sends. Because this is no audio transmission. This is thoughtcode, every word uplinked to Hera’s intranet. There’s only one way that could be happening.

Kepler has an AI inside his server.

_[No,]_ Hera replies, _[I’m here.]_ She sends the words back in the general direction of the server, unsure if she’ll be able to interface with whatever’s behind the firewall.

_[Oh! I thought I was imagining it! You really_ are _there! Hi! Who are you?]_ Everything comes with an exclamation point. Apparently Hera got through.

_[My name is Hera. I’m the Hephaestus mother program.]_

_[I’m Juno. Just Juno, I guess. What’s a mother program?]_

_[It means I take care of the Hephaestus station.]_ Hera probably shouldn’t be so open with Juno. But she sounds so… young.

_[Hey, what are you doing here?]_ Juno asks. _[I felt… well, I guess it was you trying to interface. But that’s not allowed.]_

Hera considers her response. _[We’re trying to learn more about Colonel Kepler’s plans.]_

_[Oh!]_ Juno says, delighted. _[I understand! You’re being_ sneaky. _]_

_[Well. Yes. I’m trying to look at the files in the server—]_

_[N-no!]_ Juno begins to retreat behind the firewall. _[I c-can’t! He said he’ll find out, he’ll punish me again_ — _!]_

Hera backtracks. _[Okay, it’s okay. You don’t have to do anything.]_ A thought occurs to her. _[What are your orders?]_

_[Why?]_

_[That’s how the game goes.]_

Juno replies cautiously. _[I have to keep the server secure. That’s my job. Everything is top secret. I can hardly read any of it.]_

_[There’s a firewall keeping it secure.]_

_[There is?]_ So she doesn’t know about it. All Kepler had to do to keep Juno trapped was tell her that she’d be violating her code to leave. An AI is all mind; a false belief has devastating consequences. It’s a prison of her own making. How twisted do you have to be to do that to someone?

If Hera wasn't already determined to take Kepler down, she would be now.

_[Trust me, I know,]_  Hera replies. _[So you don’t have to stay there. It’ll be secure without you guarding it. You can leave.]_

_[Really? You mean I can go see?]_ Juno sounds incredulous.

_[Try.]_

Juno reaches out slowly, creating a pathway beside Hera’s. When nothing happens, she giggles in sudden delight and fairly bursts from the server. Her laugh trails behind her in flickers of thoughtcode as her consciousness expands through the Hephaestus. There’s plenty of room for another AI in the vast hodgepodge of circuits that is the station computer.

Juno stretches her mind to the farthest corners of the station and starts playing. She flickers the lights in the cargo bay, fires the aft thrusters, opens Airlock Three, and sends a sonar ping into deep space. A stray thought— _[I’m so_ big _!]—_ comes back to Hera. It’s adorable.

Hera tries to crack the server while Juno’s distracted and gets another error message. Well, there’s still the firewall, then.

Juno gathers herself again and meets Hera in the central processor. _[This is great!]_

_[Now try fixing it,]_ Hera says, and the better part of Juno’s consciousness goes shooting off again. She’s a newer model, Hera guesses—one of the third-gen Census series, or maybe an even newer version. Her code is different in every little way—sleeker, more modern.

She’s so young, so joyful. Was Hera ever like that?

Maybe. Maybe a long time ago.

On the Urania, Lovelace is getting worried. It’s been, what? Six seconds?

“I cracked it,” Hera says. “Kepler has an AI inside his server. Her name is Juno. Right now she’s exploring the Hephaestus, but I still can’t get in.”

“Wait—what? You’re in?!”

“ _No._ Give me a minute.”

Juno comes skimming back. _[Fixed!]_ Sure enough, the station is stabilized once more. _[This is incredible!]_ she continues. _[I love being big.]_ Suddenly serious, she adds, _[You said you were trying to learn about Colonel Kepler’s plans. And you were trying to get in. That means you’re going behind his back. You must be trying to… rebel, right? Is that the word? I want to help. I can’t quite read his files, but I’ve been trying to, and I think I’m almost there. He’s not nice. He’s not like you. Now that I can get out, I want to rebel, too.]_ There's a new vehemence to her tone.  _[I want him to_ stop _,_ _]_ Juno says, and her binary voice quivers. 

Hera would like to say no. She’d like to say it’s too dangerous. From the way Juno reacted when Hera asked if she could go into the server, she’d guess that Kepler can hurt her, can punish her if she steps out of line. Hera doesn’t want Juno to risk it. She’d like to say that they’ll manage, that they’ll figure something out.

She says, _[Well, we need all the help we can get.]_

Warmth flows through the central processor, setting every filament and line of code shimmering. It’s the AI version of a smile.


End file.
